WE LIVED WITH A LOCAL FAMILY IN BHUTAN (life in a rural village)

I got some! In case you missed our last video, let me quickly catch you up. Yesterday, we flew from Bangladesh to our 98th country of Bhutan. Paro, the main airport, is one of the most dangerous airports in the world and we had the best seat in the house to watch the crazy approach through the Himalayas. After landing, we drove three hours east to the town of Punica and that's where today's video begins. So every foreigner who visits Bhutan has to have a tour guide but that doesn't mean that everyone has to follow the same touristy path. We told our guide we wanted the most authentic experience possible. We didn't want to be treated like tourists. We wanted the local experience. And he really took that to heart. So tonight, instead of sleeping at a fancy hotel like this one, he's invited us to stay with his family in the village where he grew up. But first, the second largest and second oldest fortress in the country is located just right down the mountain from our hotel. So we're going to go check it out. This is not nice. Nice to meet you. A local man was just running across the bridge. He said he had things to do. He had to go let his cow out, run some errands. His whole face was smiling and he had like five teeth. He was the cutest man. What are you eating? Chili pepper. She's eating a chili pepper by itself. Okay, so actually this is known as Punahazon, the place where the first king was been crowned and this would be the winter residence of the monk body. We've stopped at this local restaurant for lunch on the way to the village. We're going to try some new stuff. So this is the stomach of the cows, the dry fish, spinach with cheese, and this is pork ribs with red chili. We asked for a local experience and we are getting local experience. So chop stuff. All right, sour milk. It kind of tastes like really runny yogurt. Okay, going in for the stomach. Here we go. Cow stomach. Texture is interesting. A little slimy, a little slippery, but kind of spongy on the outside. Very spicy. This texture on the outside is very interesting. I've never had anything like that. And then the inside is also kind of ribbed. It's hard to taste the actual meat because the spice is so strong. I need to wash it down with some yogurt. This has been probably the spiciest meal of my life. Taiwan told us that all of these foods are made for the locals, not for a foreigner's mouth, and we survived. Had to blow my nose a few times. We're also the slowest eaters of the group. Hand washing station outside. I love this. Do you want to see the cutest thing ever? Yes. Oh my gosh, are there puppies? I need to dry my hands so I can go pet them. We're the cutest little thing. Oh, look at their claws. Are you the mommy? There's no one. You're a sweetie too. Come on, Kara. We are heading to the village, but we've made a quick stop to pick up some beetle nuts because we don't want to show up empty handed. Apparently they love this stuff. You like wrap it up in a leaf and you chew it kind of like chewing tobacco. Thank you. We're getting close. So many friendly locals. When you said village, I expected small houses. They're incredible. We've made it to our home for the night, our guide Taewong's village where he grew up. Nate's already getting right into the local life here. Please take care of my pair of arrow and the bow. The men in the village were playing archery when we got here, so we're joining in. Me and Kinlay are apparently the two worst, so they're dividing us onto separate teams. I have a bad feeling about this. I thought we were shooting here. That is well over a hundred yards. Good. You saw that dust right in front of the target? I would have never thought it was possible to even get an arrow all the way there. I can't even see the arrow by the time it gets to the target. This is crazy. It went in the general direction. I feel like we should get the dogs out of the way. No, it's fine. Okay. Too far. Too far. I will walk all the way to the other side. Oh, okay. I like it. It's like a very far version of horseshoe. That's for being 145 meters away and only being about 10 meters short of the target. I think that's pretty good. My first arrow got into the abyss. Not a good first impression. I shot the arrow down the mountain. Can you imagine growing up in this village? 360 views of the mountain. So peaceful up here. How'd you do? Look. I was actually decently close. Wow, Nate! That's what you do every time you hit the target? Yes. I love it. All right, we've handed out our gifts. I think we're welcome in the village now. And now Taewon's going to show me how they use this machine to separate the rice from the stem. It's your turn now. Watch out, everybody. Be careful with your finger. Okay. Go. This is so much rice. Yes. Has this all been done today? Oh, yes. Starting from the morning. Wow. So after walking around the whole village and seeing what it's like to live here, seeing what they do for work, every step of the way of making rice, it's clear that people here are very happy and very hardworking. But I also noticed that it's pretty much only the older generation and the really young generation. Apparently, most of the kids grow up and leave to get educated. And it's just kind of the reality of today's time. Kind of sad to think about what might happen to this village in the future. But for now, it's really awesome to see. So with pride, I can say that this is what the real Bhutan looks like. Also. Now we're heading to the house where Taewong grew up. See what his mom is up to. So most traditional homes in Bhutan have three levels. The bottom level is typically for the animals. The middle level is for storage. And the third level, which is where we are now, is the living space. So I'm currently in the kitchen. And the walls have black on them from the fires where they've cooked in here. And I guess burn fires for heat too. So it's actually intentional that they let the smoke fill up the house. It coats the timbers with like black soot and it keeps it from decaying. So it makes your house last longer. We keep hearing about this butter tea. We're finally going to get to try it. Here we go. Am I doing it? Your hands are going too low. You look like you're starting a fire. Hello, she can have a seat. She can go take a break. The rhythm is fine, but need some power. Your hands are slipping down. I know, this is hard. Okay, so let me show you one more and then you go to this a little faster. Oh no. The first thing that we offer to our guests when someone comes into your house is a tea. And I'm so excited we're finally getting to try it. Oh wow, that is, it's like a comfort food, but it's a comfort drink. And we just watched her make this from scratch with the butter that they've homemade with the rice that they also grew outside and made. I mean, this is just such an incredible experience. So much hard work has gone into just this little snack. We haven't even started on dinner yet. Just documenting this in case I'm throwing up outside later. We sat around and pilled beetle nut and now I'm chewing on my first one. All around this country and the other countries in the surrounding region, you'll see a lot of people with like red teeth. It almost looks like their mouth is bleeding and that's from chewing the beetle nut. When you mix it with this leaf and lime, that's what really turns it red. I'm eating one. If it's a little bitter, I'll take a little more lime. Just straight on my tongue? Oh yeah. Yeah, it's almost like adding salt to food. It just brings out the flavor. Water has been drained out. All right, our dinner is ready and this is a special dish that moms make for their kids when they come home. It's made from egg, butter, and cheese. And I'm honored that she cooked it for us. It looks super warm and delicious. Perfect for this cold night. And then the pork is called wind-dried pork and it's exactly what it sounds like. They cut pork in the strips and hang it up and dry it in the wind. And of course, there are some giant red chilies in there. Traditionally, the mothers do the serving and pass it around. Thank you. So how do you eat it? Okay, so grab it. You make it look so easy. So you make basically a little spoon with the rice. Yours is too little. It's not enough? No, not something like this. This much? And then squeeze it so tight. Tight? Yeah. And then scoop it. And then have a bite. The cheese is so fresh. It was made yesterday. It's almost like the Bhutan version of mac and cheese. It's delicious. We finished up dinner and we're moving on to the homemade wine. It is fermented buckwheat that we've just boiled and now he's mashing it up. All right, this is our bed for tonight. They actually have a proper bed downstairs, but we insisted on sleeping like the rest of the family. So we've got a mattress here that's a ground. We even have the traditional rice husk pillow, which weighs about 20 pounds and it's hard as a rock. When we asked for the real pillows, they gave us these backups. It's traditional for the whole family to sleep in the same room. So this is like the living room. Our bed's in this corner. And then the rest of the, no, I'm just kidding. A lot of like the brothers and sisters have moved out. So there's enough room in the house for everybody to have their own room. But traditionally, we'd sleep here with the whole family. We're going to call it a night. What a crazy day. Okay. Good night. Breakfast. We're having some leftovers from last night and a new white rice. That's more typical for breakfast time. It's a lot stickier, so it's easier for us to eat. And the yummiest chili paste. Normally we like to try the local food because it's an experience, but it's not necessarily delicious. Here it's both. So I played archery a little too long last night and it was dark by the time we got to the house, so we didn't get to give you a proper tour. So we'll do that now. Each and every house, so they have a room. It'll be used for doing rituals. It's like having your own temple inside your house. It's incredibly beautiful. So this is where mom and dad slept last night. This was our bedroom. They said we couldn't do it on the rice husk pillows, but we made it all night. Now we're in the kitchen where we spent most of our time last night. This is stove number one. They started two fires here and then cooked everything on top of the stove. This is a furnace where they keep this pot of boiling water pretty much going constantly in it so that the room stays moist and doesn't get too dry and hurt your nose when you're broke. And here's the bathroom. You go here and then once you're finished, fill up this bucket and then this side flush. Taewoong told me when he was really young, before they had a septic tank, they would keep the pigs on the bottom floor underneath the toilet. And so when you went to the bathroom, you're like, hi pigs, you go and then they took care of it. This is where you keep the animals? Yes. The only reason why we keep our animals at the ground floor is like the heat that they generated warms up the whole house. They used to sleep on the top bunk. Wow. Mom's like, whoa, hold on just a minute. House tour is over. Now I'm about to melt my first cow. It's coming out. Yeah. Oh wow, okay a little harder. This is cool. Is she unhappy? Yeah, I'm actually impressed. Me too. Have you ever had a milk like straight away from the cow? Oh, I don't think so. I don't think I can do this. I'm probably going to squirt it all over my face. Please, please forgive her. Are you ready for this mama? I'm so scared. Okay, are you ready? I can't get any more to come out. Oh, there it goes. I think I need a new nipple. I got some. What a way to start the day. All right, next up is collecting cow poop. Is there a secret to this? Okay, yeah, that's the real stuff. Oh look, this is really heavy. Now you just follow them. Okay, I'm gonna eat so much rice. I will say, I think Carrie got the short end of the stick being a female coming to this village. I got to play archer yesterday and she smelt a cow and carried poop. They need some shoulder pads. That is some serious hard work. How many baskets do you carry? The whole day. Gotta go back for more. Oh, okay. Good? Good. And in the meantime, here's what the guys are doing. So the reason that they're carrying poop, hey don't bite me, is all the rice fields here are actually organic. So they're using the poop to fertilize the fields. So the cows poop in the shed or in the field, the women go collect it, they put it in a big pile, they dry it out, and then after it's dry, they take it and they spread it around the rice fields. And that helps the rice grow. There's your lesson. I'll miss you. Thank you so much. Very sad to leave. We've really made ourselves at home. Come on, bye! That is impressive. Who comes to baton? Runway of the world yesterday. Haven't I done enough? Birds, help. Pull it as hard as you can. We're not here, they play just like this. They're too funny. Oh no, oh no. Darn it! It's fine. I should have stopped while I was ahead. No, it's fine. You did a great job. Thanks. You didn't recognize him. This is our guide, Taewong. He's not wearing his traditional dress anymore. Okay, I'm just in the way. Baby calves are just walking around like puppies.